The end of the first United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 marks the start of new forms of international collaboration to avert the continuing and growing epidemic of road traffic injuries, responsible for 1,350,000 fatalities per year.
In February 2020, Ministers from over 100 countries reaffirmed the objective to cut road fatalities by at least 50% from 2020 to 2030, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. On August 31, 2020, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed this goal in a resolution which further calls on countries to “ensure the safety and protection of all road users through safer road infrastructure by taking into account the needs of motorized and non-motorized transport, especially on the highest-risk roads, through a combination of proper planning and safety assessment, including through identification of crash-prone areas, design, building and maintenance of roads, signal systems and other infrastructure”.
Key to the successful implementation of these commitments is the acknowledgement that no level of death or serious injury is acceptable. “Vision Zero” principles, which take human fallibility and vulnerability into account, must therefore guide the design and management of road networks.
Join the International Road Federation (IRF) and key road safety specialists to collectively understand what “Vision Zero” means for Africa’s road planners & builders.
